Adhesive tabs
On in ten minutes. Off in one.
A tab is a finished adhesive film — nothing cures on your nail, nothing smells. Peel, press, done. And when you take the set off, the set survives, so you can wear it again.
Match all ten first
Hold each nail against yours, dry, and swap sizes until every one covers edge to edge without touching skin. Two minutes here buys you two weeks.
Tab on you, then the nail
Press the tab onto your own nail and rub it firm. Then peel the top film and roll the press-on down from the cuticle to the tip, squeezing the sides so no air is trapped.
Thirty seconds each
Firm pressure, one nail at a time. That is the whole trick — most sets that fall off were pressed for five seconds.
Three rules
What actually decides it
- No water for three or four hours. Easiest is to put a set on before bed.
- Never touch the sticky side. The oil from your fingertip is enough to kill the tack.
- Start clean, dry and oil-free. Push the cuticles back, take the shine off with the mini file, wipe with the prep pad.
Two weeks is real — with one condition. A tab needs natural nail to grip. If your nails are bitten, picked or cut very short, there is not enough surface and a set will last days rather than weeks. Strongly curved nails are the same story. That is not the tab; that is the amount of nail underneath it.
The other way
Glue instead?
Different job, not a better one. How to use glue →